To enable the efficient elimination or controlling of unwanted plants, it is desirable to use effective chemical formulations of herbicides. Compositions containing two or more herbicides are desirable in agricultural, specialty applications and related endeavors due to broadening the spectrum or range of unwanted plant species killed or controlled.
Due to the desirability of having a composition with the above-mentioned properties, it is useful to use combinations of herbicides to obtain enhanced control of numerous weeds with a single herbicidal application. Combinations of pesticides are known and available as mixed solutions of the active ingredients in their commercially available formulations. One method of preparing such a composition is referred to as “tank mixing” in which the ingredients in their commercially available form are mixed together by the user in a quantity of water. Tank mixes require the end user to purchase two or more commercial formulations, store them, calculate the correct amount of each active ingredient, measure those amounts into the mix and when empty, properly dispose of a number of containers. Tank mixing two or three different commercial formulations often results in physical instabilities causing precipitation of active ingredients, flocculation, phase separation and the like, providing uneven distribution of the active ingredients. Combining active ingredients into one formulation is beneficial but frequently more complex due to widely different physical properties of the active ingredients in which chemical and physical stability are problems.